When cash cows overeat, they can't move

This story amazes me... a lot of people love 7th Heaven, but now the show is a victim of its own popularity. I don't call too many things stupid... but THIS IS STUPID! Here the WB has a proven market base, and they can't give the audience what they want because it's too expensive???

As is usually the case with increasingly popular series, I suspect the actors' (and directors' and other crew members') agents are demanding a larger slice of the pie. How ironic that the 7th Heaven cash cow seems to have died a death of greed when its story is about a Christian minister.

WB: '7th Heaven' canceled over costs
Network says show is too expensive, despite ratings

Tuesday, January 17, 2006; Posted: 11:07 a.m. EST (16:07 GMT)

PASADENA, California (AP) -- The Camden family is disappearing from television in May strictly for financial reasons: the WB's top executive said Sunday that the network is losing $16 million this year on "7th Heaven."

The family drama, the most popular program in the network's history, will end its run after 10 years. The decision seems irreversible despite an Internet campaign to save it, even though "7th Heaven" is still the WB's second highest-rated show after "Gilmore Girls."

Production costs tend to jump for television series as they get older, largely because the salaries of actors and others involved grow with success. "7th Heaven," about a family of seven and all their friends, has a large cast.

Reruns of "7th Heaven" were fading in the ratings, too, and that made it tougher for the network to recoup its investment, said Garth Ancier, the WB's top executive.

"As much as we all love the show, we do have to run a business," Ancier said.

Other older WB series, "Smallville" and "Gilmore Girls," don't have the same problem, he said.